Proof
by Zuni-Chan
Summary: Ed tries to seal a Homunculus who reminds him of Nina. Will he be stopped by a mixture of Al's speculations and his own guilt?
1. Memories of a Moment

_Get up_

Her fingers grated into the soil as her stomach heaved again. A spasm rushed from belly button to ribcage as yet another large sum of the Philosopher's Stone spilled from her mouth over the grass.

_...What would Envy say to you right now?_

_Worthless. Pile. Of. Dog-shit. Get up and fucking fight!_

Reluctance groaned weakly as her pale arms nearly buckled out from under her.

"What's going on...?" Ed called, his voice barely rising to the level of weak, muted panic.

Sweat trickling down her brow, Reluctance managed to look to the side with dimming violet eyes. The loud sonic booms that sounded through the clearing and echoed through the surrounding forest were distant in her ears and almost foreign over the ringing that began.

"She bends time, Brother!" Al interjected, his brown ponytail blowing in the wind as randomized trees and sections of grass stood still in the oncoming wind. Al whirled and watched, hands over his ears, the different objects stilled themselves before springing spontaneously back to life.

Ed's rush ceased as another sigh escaped his lips, "Her power is going haywire... It happened to Sloth too," He visibly cringed as the petite Homunculus squirmed and writhed on the field.

His hands balled into fists at his sides-

_"Huh?" Ed articulated._

_She was speaking that weird jibberish again._

_But then she began to cry. Tears, unlike French, were something Edward understood._

_Pity stirred in his heart. He couldn't just sit there like a lump while a little girl cried, even if she _ _did have eyes like that._ Nina..._ But those unnatural eyes of hers made his movements slow and hesitating, and caused the cautious, analytical look to linger in his eyes._

_Ed stood up from the chair and took a few steps toward the girl, but didn't walk right up to her or make any kind of comforting contact._

_Ed managed a gentle smile, struggling to keep it purely reassuring and not let the distrust born from meeting Wrath or the grief born from losing Nina taint the expression._

_"No, I don't speak French," he admitted in a soft, non-threatening voice. "In fact, I don't even know what French is," he conceded with a half-chuckle which did wonders for his smile._

_"What's your name?"_

_ "Reluctance."_

Ed looked up with a stern expression.

"Brother... She wasn't our sin. Why are we sealing her...?" Al's aqua eyes struck him, and made him feel all the more guilty.

"Because she broke a promise, Al," He whispered, unable to stand looking at the scene anymore. Her long braided pigtails and doll-like features drew back a young face. Needles pierced his heart as the memories seeped farther and farther underneath his skin.

_Nina..._

"I should've trusted my gut feeling."

Another loud sonic-boom echoed, though its volume was ten times as loud as the other, as the envelope of time swallowed up the entire field, and the sealing circle.

Reluctance cried a weak respire of relief as the alchemy ceased and she looked at the blonde. A bit more stone oozed out of the corner of her mouth as she wormed away, pulling herself on clumps of dirt. The world lurched suddenly and she rolled with it, leaving the worn stuffed duck abandoned in the center of the formerly-glowing alchemic circle. Leaving the circle two feet away, the blonde sighed again.

She gasped and whirled her head around, looking at him with tired, wild eyes...

"Just go. I won't chase you." He whispered with eyes fixed on the grass.

She pushed herself to a sitting position, looking at Ed with a torn expression, "I still don't know where I came from," She whispered, "but I found a family that'll accept me anyway."

Ed's face pulled back into a grimace, "A family of _monsters_."

Reluctance choked out a laugh, "How is me seeking home with people just like me, no matter what they do... any different from how you joined the military?"

"Becau- "

"No, Edward... Despite what the motives were, they're virtually the same. You're working for a corrupt employer, and doing things you don't believe in-and were taught against-because it's a home to you now. It's a part of you. Admit it, Edward, you feel like you belong there... Just like I know that I belong with the Homunculi. No matter how much of a monster it makes me... or how much of a dog it makes you."

They stared, eyes locked as the meaning sank in... no matter how true, or untrue her theory was... it made perfect, undeniable sense.

And Reluctance turned, crawling away into the living forest.

"Brother, she-"

"I know Al... let's go." Ed whispered as he turned, face unreadable, and moved towards the path out of the clearing.


	2. Knowledge of Yesterday

Ed's face remained contorted into pained grimace as he trudged through the forest, Al whispering by his side

Ed's face remained contorted into pained grimace as he trudged through the forest, Al whispering by his side. His brother's musings were lost to him as he continued to dissect his tangled thoughts. Separating two people—no, not two _people_; a person, and a _monster_..

_Reluctance. _

_Nina. _

_Don't __trust Reluctance. She's a monster… like Envy. She lives with them. She grew up with them. She's one of them._

_But her eyes… they're softer… than—_

"Brother?" Al's face was concerned, "You're… You're troubled Brother. What's wrong?" The younger brother's brow was crinkled, and his eyes were churning with concern.

The mirroring-brothers simply stared, Ed sighing first, "I'm just thinking, I guess." He struggled a smile and ran his cold right hand through his hair—the automail clattering unpleasantly—as another respire sounded, "Because I know her. I've met her."

Al nodded in understanding, "I know, Brother… I saw it in your eyes," His expression, too, turned pained with the knowledge. "Something must've happened with you do… that made that more hard than beating … most of… the other Homunculi," Al looked up, "It's why you let her go. And why we left."

Once again, Edward's mind drifted off… to a far-away memory…

_He seemed so detached… with Mom's grave there. _

_He hasn't even been AROUND for the past sixteen years, what on this green Earth makes him think he can start, in the least, being a father now?!_

_"Ah, yes… my home," He remained with a continuously detached expression, "Why has it been burnt down?"_

_Why else, old man? _

_"We decided not to turn back from the path we chose… Not having a place to go back to… to show that we're not turning back." _

_"You're wrong," He replied, voice softened. "It's because one doesn't want the remnants of one's own mistakes, isn't it?" He turned and looked down at me. "Is it for the sake of running away from the horrible memories it brings back? To erase all evidence of what oneself had done?" _

_"You're __wrong." __wrong." Farthest thing from the truth. _

_"It's just like a child who wets their bed at night, and then hides the sheets… Edward," He looked farther down at me, as if his eyes were drilling into my skull, "You're running away." _

Ed's hands balled into fists, his tawny eyes shooting daggers into the ground, "Stay here, Al. I'm going back and getting rid of the circle."

And like Al, he started to follow. And Ed stopped, looking back at him, "I'm going to do this alone. Stay here." His hands were tucked away into his black pockets as he looked back at Al before turning to his path and breaking into a run.

He saw two burgundy braids break the horizon. He transmuted his right arm into a blade, picking up the pace and taking a long leap. One quick slash was all it took.

On his landing, he heard a sick _thud_ as a head-less corpse, followed by the head, hit the ground.

"Why didn't you stop me?" he whispered.

As her original head quickly fell apart and disappeared, another morphed into place on her shoulders, "My ears are still ringing I—"

"Bullshit," He whispered, jaw clenching as he uncoiled himself from his landing-crouch. "Bull. Shit." He turned and looked at her, both of them already standing.

"Why did you come back?"

"Hey! I as— "

"Edward, be mature," Reluctance whispered, sighing, "Why did you come back?"

"Because… an old man, a while ago, told me the difference between keeping yourself on one path and covering up your mistakes… running away," Ed sighed, moving to a charge up to reluctance. He took a firm hold on her shoulders and slammed her up against the nearest tree. He looked away immediately, grimacing, "Why didn't you stop me? Now, and before."

Reluctance looked town, shaking her head as she brushed a lock of blonde hair out of his eyes, "Because once upon a time a young Alchemist helped out a little Homunculus, despite his gut feeling," She chuckled looking off to the side as Ed released her and dumped her on the ground. She propped herself up and watched him turn his back, "Ed I was six when I died," Her words stopped the walking Alchemist in his footsteps. "And like the other Homunculi, I didn't have a choice. And much less so in who took care of me because of how small and young I was."

Ed sighed, turning back again, "But you're living with a family of destructive—"

"Monsters," Reluctance interjected with a chuckle. "It's no different than what I told you before. You're working for the military, and doing things that you know are immoral. But yet you continue on. You don't have the authority to question, and in a sense neither to I… In a sense," She cringed, running a hand through her bangs. "And yes. I kill. I hurt. I work _with_ Wrath, and Envy, and Pride, and not against them. I cause destruction."

"So why do you do it?" Ed snapped, nearly growling as he glared down at her.

"Because It's home to me… With Dante, and them," She smiled, standing up as she looked down at him. "I feel like I belong."

She choked a laugh to herself at the thought, gazing at Ed in amusement, "I'm not going to hesitate to kill you, next time, Half-stack…" She smiled happily before her face turned to a graver note, "If that is what I _must do_.""

The hand that was rested on his head bent, fingers digging into his hair and pushing him forward, into a greeting fist, "I felt your nose break…" She whispered, releasing him, "For saving me. I saved you. We live to see another day."

Reluctance turned, dashing deeper into the forest before she was found by the approaching Elric.

"Brother!"


	3. Learning the Lost

"Do you believe it?" Reluctance stared blankly up at the star-spotted sky, choosing her next words carefully, "Dante, I mean… when she told you the truth of Equivalent Exchange."

"Of course not," Edward snorted, shaking his head and scoffing at the Homunculus. "We based our _whole life_ on that principal, Al and I… I mean. I won't let the word of some senile old hag change that." He sighed and tilted his head back, mimicking Reluctance's expression as his thoughts made the exchange into words. "Our whole lives; our entire existences thus far spent searching through the blacks and whites of alchemy… praying for the gray. One loophole that would let us do what we'd wanted all along… return to normal."

"Then what are we doing here, Edward? You're telling yourself that you believe this, but yet you're moving so far off of your designed path _just_ to prove moth—er, Dante, wrong. Trust your gut more… You shouldn't be so eager to prove everyone else wrong," She whispered, lowering her head and curling into her knees as she anticipated his retort.

He looked over at her with a curved eyebrow and paused. As a child, she'd reminded him of Nina… so much so that one could understandably mistake Reluctance as her own Homunculus. Even now, some, her features nearly sang of the deceased four-year-old… but now, more than anyone else, she reminded him of Winry. Her sad, but focused eyes as she thought made his heart ache as he thought of the lonely automail-mechanic he'd left at home. _Is her entire purpose __just__ to haunt me of my sins? At least… she doesn't look like mom… Yet./._ "You shouldn't assume, Reluctance. Not all of my actions are intended towards proving something."

"Prove it."

If any other two words could be more challenging, they might as well be a punch to the face. The annoyance in the alchemist's blood began to boil almost immediately, "Well, to start, for Al. All of those years I spent trying to get his body back… For him! To… well, for him to have a body."

"To prove that you're a good older brother."

"Yes, but to show that he can have faith in me! No one else did that for me, and now I don't have faith in anyone anymore! And not even Alchemy, because of Dante!"

Reluctance smiled coyly, her eyebrows curling in pity, "I'm sorry for tricking you… but apparently you needed to know your own truth."

"Let's go," Ed whispered, dumping his canteen of water and dousing the fire, "We'll travel by night."

"But you need sleep! And I should too—"

"Bullshit. Get up. We're going." He retorted venomously, climbing to his feet and continuing through the forest opposite the direction they came.

不本意

"No way! I'll _rust_!" he snapped back at her, golden eyes blazing as she dared to proceed to the next rock.

"Edward, don't you see? If your Equivalent Exchange really exists, then there will be a city behind here. People. Alchemists. i_Food/iFood_, Edward… i_food/ifood_," her violet eyes burned mercilessly into his soul. "Trust me!" A glamorous finish before she leapt to the next rock, and finally behind the cascading waterfall.

"Trust you? _TRUST YOU_?! Reluctance get i_back/iback here_!" Ed fumed, hands balling into fists as he waited for the burgundy-haired Homunculus to return. Even though she… didn't. He sighed in indecision, fidgeting a few times before clapping his hands and pausing, shaking his head. "You're paying for new automail if I rust, god-dammit!" He muttered before plunging into the sheet of falling water and through to the other side.

Once his foot caught the saturated stone, and he observed the towering slab of equally-soaked stone before him he growled in impatience. His hand slapped hard against the large stone, the previously-channeled alchemy erupting in violent blue sparks as a perfectly symmetrical crater formed in the slate, "No… NO!" He screamed, jaw clenching, "This just means that the legend is wrong. NOT that the principal is… I refuse to believe it."

Looking up at the crater that he'd formed, his eyes widened and a miniscule gasp passed his lips. Stepping away from the wall and backing into the puddle behind him. His rogue-red boot slipped into the crevice, and a louder gasp escaped him as his red-and-black form crashed into the water below.

His back slammed against an awaiting stone, bubbles of air that once occupied his lungs now rose to the surface. His eyes opened for a split second before quickly sealing shut in the salty solution. In a blind attempt to orient himself, both hands outstretched and hoped to touch something… anything… anything but rock, and it was something else that he felt… pulling.

Reluctance grasped the shining appendage, snagging it and dragging Edward along as she turned and swam back the direction she had come from.

Her feet alternating; up, down, up, down, as she propelled them onward. Never breathing, never blinking as they reached another blue-gray slab. Reluctance inverted to ninety-degrees, breaking the surface with a loud inhale that echoed tremendously in the cylindrical cavern. Towing Edward ashore, and beaching him there she took the moment to let the silver lightening heal her lungs and eyes, "Edward?" She croaked, turning towards his unconscious form.

She swallowed and sighed again, pulling off his scarlet coat and throwing it to the center of the salty pond. Laying one hand over his chest, and squaring her shoulders she began the thirty compressions. The brisk movements were over in a few seconds before she darted over and plugged his nose, tilting his head back and leaning ever closer—

An angry, wet metal hand jolted upwards and kissed her cheek, transmuting away the flesh and sending her sprawling backwards, "_I don' think that mouth-to-mouth was in the contract" _Edward fumed as water trickled out the corner of his mouth.

With her face still regenerating sum, Reluctance stood with a grimace forming as she began to take shape, "Hey, _Half-stack_! No need for thanks, I'm just, oh _saving your life and all_!" She spat back venomously.

"

"Who're you calling so short they'd get lost in a city of ants?!"

"That's not what I said Edward, and you _know it_!" her voice was at a normal level, verses their competing shrieks, before she continued. "I need you to transmute a door here. There's probably a proper one, but I can't seem to find it." She motioned to the far wall.

Ed wiped his mouth, looking up with careful eyes, "Alright, Nin— eh." He choked on his mistake, grimacing to the floor.

"It's Reluctance, now transmute the door."

He nodded once, rolling to his feet and clapping his hands, opening up an archway for the two. Passing through, he peeked at the cavern's grained architecture, "He-hey…! This place… it was made with Alchemy!" He exclaimed, running a hand down the layered pattern that was always the product of an Alchemic Reaction.

Reluctance turned and smiled, "But it exists, Edward! A city built overnight with the Ultimate Art," she reached over and gave him an encouraging hug. "Congrats, Edward."

Ed blushed lightly with the embrace, before collecting himself and pushing forward. Standing at the edge of the cliff and gazing over the ancient city, he smiled and turned, "We should climb down there and take a look at their ruins and records… maybe we can find out how they did it."

"Why don't we just ask them?" She recommended while pointing towards the streets, "This place is still inhabited."

He blinked curiously, squinting to see so far down, "Hey… Wait!" He called after her as she slung herself over the edge and began the unsteady descent towards the city.

エドワード

Without a word, Reluctance released the cliff side and plunged into the water fifty feet below, Edward following impulsively. She cut through the water with a practiced, pointed dive… Ed struggled to _completey _copy it.

Her hands pierced the water's surface, fumbling around for a shore when instead she caught a hand. It snagged her out of the water and left her beached as she looked up. Naught a moment later, a spear met her eye and dug into her skull.

"What the hell was that for?!" Ed snapped, climbing to his feet and glaring murderously at the patrol with churning golden eyes.

Gasps and murmurs erupted from the patrol, and whispers shortly followed as they watched the two; Ed's glaring statue, and Reluctance's now-standing, regenerating form. Two of the males reached forward and secured Reluctance, towing her upwards towards the city. The remaining male kicked Ed's legs out from under him and hoisted him over his shoulder.


	4. Just Dream

Ed landed on the hard floor with a feeble grunt, head still spinning from his fall.

As soon as Reluctance hit the temple floor, a loud sonic-boom echoed through the cavern. All but Edward and reluctance were still. Ed scowled and looked over at her, ready to snap at her irrational action before completely taking in the scene.

"It's self-preservation!" She defended in a whimper. Securing her hands around the spear that was mere inches from her throat, time resumed. "Stop!" She shrieked, tears streaming down her cheeks, "Please! I'm with Edward!"

_Well, she's got the crying thing down pat. I'll give her that.._ Edward thought before interjecting, "It's true! She's traveling with me."

"Then we will free you from it, Boy of Golden eyes," Someone spoke from behind them. He emerged slowly, pale skin that was carved with lines of an ancient language and draped with an exotic blue-and-gold robe that never dared touch the floor. Hands folded in front of him before he continued. "We've battled those purple irises before. And we will do to it as we did to all like it who trespass. Take it to the Peak."

"No!" Ed clapped his hands, pressing them to the floor and transmuting a stone barrier between Reluctance and the antagonistic guards. "She is here because of _me_. Do not punish _her_ or that."

More gasps and whispers swept through the guards and patrol before the Head Priest spoke again, "I see that you are skilled in the Art of Circles, though you do not require a circle… Perhaps you have the Red Stone too?"

"Alchemy?"

"Boy of Golden Eyes, you know of this word?"

"My name is _Edward_. And yes, I know of _alchemy_, and I can use it without a circle."

"Let the _girl_ be, we must speak with these travelers." The Priest commanded, waving his hand away at the guard.

The guards disappeared, and soon following was Ed's barrier. Reluctance looked around with glossy purple eyes. Wiping away the former tears on the bottom of her black tank-top, she rose to her feet and tucked her bangs behind her ears and smiled thankfully at Edward.

Ed nodded in response and stared at the Priest with determined eyes, "What did you mean about the Philosopher's Stone?"

"Later, Edward. Now you, girl. What is your Sin?" He turned and addressed Reluctance with distrusting eyes.

Reluctance rested a hand on her hip and pulled on a smug expression, "Not exactly a very polite Welcoming committee, I must say." She sneered before even considering his demand, "I'm Reluctance. The one; the only; the _awesome_."

The Priest scowled at her confidant demeanor, "We have encountered a Greed and a Thievery. Did you know them?"

She fiddled with a curl of hair, shrugging and heaving a sigh, "Never even heard of Thievery. Greed is getting killed and replaced so often there's no credibility to the title anymore. So no, I never knew either of them."

"Hey, Pops," Ed began, "Who're _you_?"

"I am both Chief of this city, and Priest to the temple."

Both Ed and Reluctance nodded before flashing a glance at each other. It was Reluctance who spoke, "This place was made with Alchemy… How did you _do it_?"

The chief turned and headed through the doorway behind him, "Follow."

The two followed behind him, eyes stretching wide as they entered the circular room. Along the walls were shelves stacked to the ceiling with scrolls and parchments and one book, "These date back to the eras even before the Man of Golden Eyes."

Reluctance looked around curiously, nearly to the point of spinning on her toe before she spotted him frozen, eyes wide in the entrance of the room.

Ed was choking on his words, shoulders slumped and face contorted. His golden eyes were wide and mouth slightly parted as a wheeze escaped him, "…Dad…?"


End file.
